Vatican Confirms Attempts to Negotiate with Maduro

The Vatican's Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, confirmed that the Holy See worked to find a solution 'that would avoid any bloodshed, also an agreement with (Nicolás) Maduro and other regime representatives, but this was not possible'. The Vatican's 'number two' also stated that now 'a democratization of the country is necessary'. 'We had tried what some newspapers also reported,' Parolin said on Saturday afternoon on the sidelines of an event, indirectly referring to what the Washington Post wrote about his intervention to secure safe passage for Nicolás Maduro before he was arrested by the United States. He added: 'We always supported a peaceful solution, but we also found ourselves before a consummated fact, before a situation of fact'. Pope Leo XIV has alluded to the crisis in Venezuela on several occasions, the last one this Friday during his long speech to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, when he asked that the will of the Venezuelan people be respected and peaceful solutions be sought, away from 'partisan interests'. Although Parolin did not provide details, The Washington Post published on January 9 that the pontifical state had tried to negotiate an offer of asylum in Russia for the Venezuelan president. He explained that the situation in the country 'is now one of great uncertainty' and wished that it 'evolves towards stability, towards an economic recovery because the situation is very precarious, the people suffer'.